Seoul again invites N Korea to intl nuclear summit next March-FM

SEOUL, June 1 (Itar-Tass) - South Korea again invites DPRK leader Kim
Jong Il to take part in an international nuclear summit scheduled in Seoul
for March, 2012, South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim
Sung-hwan said here on Wednesday.
"We're ready to help gladly," Seoul's foreign minister said. "I urge
the North not to waste a precious chance like this but to respond to our
proposal actively."
The South Korean foreign minister expressed the hope that the DPRK
leader will attend the forum, which will gather about 50 heads of various
countries.
North Korea has rejected an invitation to the nuclear summit extended
to it May by President Lee Myung-bak during his visit to Germany.
Then, Pyongyang called the idea of holding in South Korea such a large
forum "ridiculous" and accused Seoul of allowing the United States to
place nuclear weapons in its territory. Washington that deployed 28.5
thousand its soldiers in the South of the Korean Peninsula has repeatedly
denied the presence of its nuclear weapons in Korea.
Over 3 years in office the administration of President Lee Myung-bak
who strictly linked the development of cooperation with the DPRK and
provision of assistance to it with steps toward Pyongyang's nuclear
disarmament, the relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated
seriously, the Yonhap news agency writes in this connection.
Seoul and Washington have repeatedly stated that for the resumption of
the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue that are to provide
to the DPRK political and economic benefits in return for
denuclearisation, Pyongyang must also shut down its uranium enrichment
programme.
According to Yonhap, the North has essentially dismissed the proposal
that South Korean President Lee Myung-bak made last month in Berlin. The
North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, a
semi-official organ on cross-border relations, has said the idea of South
Korea holding a nuclear summit is "ridiculous," accusing Seoul of hosting
US forces holding a stash of nuclear arms. About 28,500 US troops are
stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against the North, a legacy of the
1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce. The US military denies it is
hiding any nuclear arms in the South.
The nuclear summit scheduled for next year in Seoul will be one of the
largest international gatherings to be hosted by Lee during his five-year
tenure that ends in 2013. During the past three years, inter-Korean
relations plunged after the impoverished North refused to sympathize with
Lee's call that Pyongyang show clear denuclearisation steps for aid from
the South, according to Yonhap. All forms of cross-border dialogue remain
suspended, and South Korea and the US say Pyongyang should also retract
its newly unveiled uranium enrichment project if it wants to see the
reopening of six-nation talks designed to provide political and economic
benefits to the North in exchange for denuclearisation.
The six-party talks aim to find a peaceful resolution to the security
concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program. There
has been a series of meetings with six participating states: the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea); the Republic of Korea
(South Korea); the People's Republic of China; the United States of
America; the Russian Federation; and the State of Japan.
These talks were a result of North Korea withdrawing from the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003. Apparent gains following the
fourth and fifth rounds were reversed by outside events. Five rounds of
talks from 2003 to 2007 produced little net progress until the third phase
of the fifth round of talks, when North Korea agreed to shut down its
nuclear facilities in exchange for fuel aid and steps towards the
normalisation of relations with the United States and Japan. Responding
angrily to the United Nations Security Council's Presidential Statement
issued on April 13, 2009 that condemned the North Korean failed satellite
launch, the DPRK declared on April 14, 2009 that it would pull out of Six
Party Talks and that it would resume its nuclear enrichment program in
order to boost its nuclear deterrent. North Korea has also expelled all
nuclear inspectors from the country.